The present invention relates to arrangements for adjusting the axial play between a journalled shaft and a surrounding bearing casing, and is more particularly concerned with the use of a cylindrical roller bearing of the type having a separate abutment ring at the inner bearing ring for providing an intentional compensation of axial plays between the journalled shaft and the surrounding bearing casing.
The journaling of shafts which are subject to simultaneous radial and axial loads has in the past normally been effected by the use of conical roller bearings, with two such bearings oriented opposite to one another being employed in heavy-duty situations. By way of example, in axial piston machines in which a machine shaft is connected to a drive disk the shaft is often journalled in two mutually opposite conical roller bearings.
It is well known that in many journaling arrangements, not limited to axial piston machines, it is difficult to "build away" manufacturing tolerances without those tolerances superimposing themselves on one another so as to require a bearing play adjustment or compensation at the time of final assembly of the journal. Such adjustments become particularly difficult in cases such as the axial piston machines to which reference has been made above where there is a rotary inner ring load which is applied to the conical roller bearings, since the inner rings of such conical roller bearings must then be mounted with a press fit on the shaft. In such an arrangement precise axial play adjustments of the shaft require the use of expensive and complicated fixtures and dial indicators, making the adjustment very time consuming and expensive particularly in mass production situations. If only a small number of such journals must be manufactured, a skilled worker can gradually learn to tighten the two conical roller bearings against one another by means of an abutment nut that is threaded onto the shaft, or by means of shims or the like, so as to achieve just enough rolling resistance of the conical roller bearings. Adjustments of this type are dependent upon the skill of the worker, however, and cannot be employed by comparatively unskilled workers in the course of maintenance of the journalled shaft, or when bearings are replaced by users of the machine. There has long been a need, therefore, to provide an effective solution of this journaling problem.
The present invention provides such a solution by permitting the adjustment of clearance or play to be carried our manually in a fast and simple operation without requiring use of the expensive and complicated fixtures and dial indicators which have been considered necessary heretofore.